The concept of the welfare state is diverse, and its features change as the social and demographic structure of society changes over time. In contemporary welfare societies, many of the social risks that occurred in previous generations have been minimised and replaced by new risks. Human well-being is associated not only with the individual, but also with the wider social entity in which people and the society surrounding them work together in continuous interaction (Mínguez 2013). The concept of well-being therefore includes both community-level and individual-level elements that can be measured by economic and social indicators.
The importance of families with children in an ageing society will increase due to the increase in life expectancy. Employment, social structures, and forms of support, as well as physical and psychological well-being, create the basis for future development. The sustainability of public finances requires solutions to guide the parents of families with children to combine work and family life in a way that enables both parents to engage in earning and child care.
Society is built around individuals and various institutional elements. In addition to the institutional structures of society, the family also forms a social institution that acts both as a unit of society and as an independent decision-maker. When a single family makes decisions, it does not have an impact on society as a whole, but when several families change their activities in the same way, one can talk about institutional or wider societal change (Esping-Andersen 1999). The formation of the family, and its timing and maintenance, have changed along with the creation of new forms of family structure and demographic change, and consequently reform is also needed for the forms of support provided.
The structure and support system of the welfare society is based on different methods of strengthening self-sufficiency and self-direction, and supporting the most vulnerable. The recommendations of the European Commission on breaking the cycle of disadvantage by investing in children (European Commission 2013) propose that member states allocate resources to prevent social exclusion and child poverty. The Commission suggests this be done by strengthening cooperation between different sectors and ensuring adequate resources and high-quality services. However, Finland is facing challenges: economic growth is slow, the population is ageing, and there are issues in securing funding for the welfare state.
Demographic trends contribute to the increasing attention paid to the well-being of children and families in Europe. As child poverty and the risk of poverty and exclusion increases, the importance of policy actions is reflected more rapidly in the daily lives of families with children. The consumption of family and child benefits does not in itself guarantee that child poverty and the risk of exclusion can be prevented. Even though the consumption of child and family benefits has increased in many countries, the changes in the risk of poverty and social exclusion rates have varied at the same time. The state’s social support for families varies from country to country, much like national interest in family well-being. Sociological interest in families can focus on the same issues regardless of country, but as a phenomenon, its review is linked to the political, ideological, cultural, and socio-economic context (Hartrais & Letablier 1996).
In many EU member states, the family has already been identified as a significant social institution. Nevertheless, coherent action to develop family policy does not happen on a similar scale in all countries. The relationship between the family and the state has been conceptualised and operationalised in different ways according to each national context.
The existing Nordic welfare systems require responsible and far-reaching fiscal policies and incentivising methods to prevent the risks of the welfare state, which occur on a large scale. All welfare states face the problem of an ageing population, and the welfare system cannot survive if the employment rate is not high enough.
The European Commission report on European Employment and Social Development in Europe (2017) states that the EU can no longer afford to support so many people who are not active in the labour market. The impact of the decline in the working age population on future growth will depend on the ability of member states to return the inactive population to the labour market. There are also concerns about the differences that exist between different age groups and genders.
The employment rate of women is a concern in many European countries. The proportion of people in the workforce is important for preventing poverty among individuals and families. It also has a significant social dimension from the perspective of social exclusion. Organising child care support so that day care fees remain reasonable and do not disincentivise parents from returning to work is one way of promoting the parent's return to the workforce. At the national level, the political decisions that guide regional activity modify the development of regional solutions and demographic trends. From a regional point of view, a universal model family policy does not in itself prevent regional differences. In the case of family policy, this is evident in the solutions that allow different decisions regarding service provision and separate subsidies.
Institutional structures and the social security system in Finland is built from the perspective of equality and unified welfare thinking, but it should not limit the possibility of change when long-term social and economic thinking requires it. The Nordic social security model is based on comprehensive forms of support and services. However, one of the problems of universality is that comprehensive supply does not change the situation in terms of equality if the overall purpose is not to protect the well-being of the most vulnerable, but to unequivocally implement the principle of “one model fits all'.
In her dissertation study, Hannele Heinänen's focus is on how the principles of the Nordic welfare state have been put into effect in contemporary Finland from the perspective of the well-being of families with children. It further examines how the objectives of the Finnish family policy and the family policy system itself have been implemented by evaluating the outcomes at the European level. The outcomes of Finnish family policy has been evaluated at both the national and the EU level using national and EU documents and statistical data for Finland and the EU-28 member states.
The evaluation was carried out for all 28 member States in the EU as a whole and separately selected member states representing different models of social security. The countries selected for further comparison represent the Nordic European, Central European, Southern European, and Eastern European models, with each having different institutional bases for state administration. The interview data has been used to evaluate the results from an expert perspective at the national level. The theoretical foundation for the research is institutional theory.
The results of the survey present the outcomes of Finnish family policy and the family policy system as it manifests in the 2010s. At the national level, the outcomes are based on regional equality. At the EU level, the outcomes are based on comparisons of economic well-being, equality and access to services.
The doctoral dissertation of M.Sc. (Admin.) Hannele Heinänen in the field of administrative sciences titled Perhepolitiikan tulokset puntarissa: Arviointitutkimus lapsiperheiden hyvinvoinnista Suomessa ja Euroopassa will be publicly examined at the Faculty of Management and Business of Tampere University at 12 o'clock on Friday 19 February, 2021. The venue is Pinni A building Paavo Koli auditorium, address: Kanslerinrinne 1. Professor of practise Olavi Kangas from University of Turku will be opponent while Professor Lasse Oulasvirta will act as the custos.
The event can be followed via remote connection
The dissertation is available online at
http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-1854-3